INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S ART DESIGNS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Bibliography
• Web Sites

to inform indigenous women leaders and members of organizations in the Americas about issues related to the protection of their intellectual property rights, particularly with respect to traditional designs and crafts;

to provide tools to indigenous women:

• to research and analyze their particular situations with respect to the protection of their designs and crafts;
  
• to improve indigenous women's control over the use of their traditional designs and crafts;
  
• to empower them to act on their local and national situation;

to develop strategies for their future actions in this area.

Tuesday, April 20 (starting at 7:00 p.m.)

Cultural identity and indigenous art

Plenary: the origins of indigenous traditional designs and art and the role of women (Violet Ford, Inuit Tapirisat of Canada)

• traditional knowledge, its transmission, its owners and guardians
• definitions of the evolving concept of indigenous "traditional" knowledge and its transformations
• cultural identity and designs

Working groups and summary

Day 1, Wednesday, April 21  P.M.

Impact of globalization on the commercialization of the craft industry

Plenary: the impact of globalization on the social and economic aspects of indigenous women's lives (Atencio López, Panama and Jean Christie, Rural Advancement Foundation International)

• the concept of globalization
• the impacts of globalization on the protection of designs in particular and on indigenous knowledge in general
• globalization as a threat to cultural identity
• trade policies and their impacts on the craft industry and tourism

Working groups and summary

Dinner with Ethel Blondin, member of the Dene nation, member of the Canadian parliament and Minister responsible for the Secretariat of State on Youth and Children as a keynote speaker.

Day 2, Thursday, April 22  AM

The concept of intellectual property as applied to designs and crafts

Plenary: WIPO representative and Violet Ford

• the various forms of protecting intellectual property in the occidental system (copyright, industrial property, trademarks)
• the maladjustment of the occidental system to the needs of indigenous peoples (individual versus collective rights, limited-time protection, etc.)

Working groups and summary

Day 2, Thursday, April 22,  P.M.

The international documents that protect intellectual property and what exactly they protect

Plenary: Brief summary of working groups' discussions: Helen Lom, WIPO representatives, Craig Benjamin, journalist, and Annie Oehlerich, IBIS Bolivia.

• international documents, the context of their application and the protection they provide
• the Berne and Paris Convention, model legislation from WIPO and UNESCO
• Convention 169 and the UN and OAS draft declarations, the Special Rapporteur’s study on intellectual property and indigenous peoples (Erica-Irene Daes, UN)

Working groups and summary

Day 3, Friday, April 23  AM

Presentation of the day and methodology: Veronica Dewar

Concrete experiences of design protection. Sonia Henriquez (CONAMUIP), Eva Adams Klassen (Tungavvingat Inuit/Canada)

Plenary: Brief summary of working group discussions. Presentation of three case studies: Australia, Panama and Canada

Working groups and summary

Day 3, Friday, April 23  PM


What can we do in our own countries? Graciela Magan (OXFAM-Fairtrade – South America), Atencio López (NAPGUANA) Plenary: Brief summary of working group discussions.

• what can be done to protect designs
• ethics principles and business contracts
• principles that guide fair trade
• mobilization actions
• experience of proposed draft legislation in Panama

Working group on what can be done at the local level and discussion on ethical principles.

Day 4, Saturday, April 24  AM

Presentation of the day and methodology: Jackie Kistabish

Plan of Action

Plenary: Summary of workshop: content and debates – the role of women in international fora holding discussions on intellectual property, Violet Ford and Atencio López

Working groups: proposals on: local, national and international levels.

Day 4, Saturday, April 24  P.M.

Presentation of the proposals, discussion and adoption

Plenary: discussion on the future of the Commission on Commercialization and Intellectual Property and evaluation of the workshop.

Closing Ceremony

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